Hiccup's eyes went wide as Ruff dropped that bomb.
"Okay, eleven. Eleven districts." Horrible. So horrible, an entire tribe, probably even bigger than theirs, wiped out in an instant. Their tribe was pretty much their whole world. Well, at least a significant portion of their world - maybe 75% of their world. (After all, there was a world outside the tribe that was part of their world, too, since they went flying in it.) Hiccup couldn't help but think about how easily these people could rain fire down on their own tribe, too.
"That's what they do, they just -" He dropped his voice, very low. "- they destroy everything they touch. Not long ago, though, something happened to make the Capitol worried. Far as I can tell a Tribute in one of the arenas did things that might have made people get a little more inclined to rebellion, so they stopped taking kids from the districts and started bringing in people like us. This way the districts're not having their kids taken away, so they're less likely to rebel, but they can show how powerful they are by reaching into whole other worlds to bring people, and by playing gods by bringing them back to life over and over. It still shows off how powerful they are, without making the districts take it personally anymore. They still don't seem well off but now they're not being forced to watch their kids go through it and now the people in the arenas come back - most of the time."
Hiccup shrugged.
"So here we are." He added, "Uuup to our necks in dragon dung."
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"Okay, eleven. Eleven districts." Horrible. So horrible, an entire tribe, probably even bigger than theirs, wiped out in an instant. Their tribe was pretty much their whole world. Well, at least a significant portion of their world - maybe 75% of their world. (After all, there was a world outside the tribe that was part of their world, too, since they went flying in it.) Hiccup couldn't help but think about how easily these people could rain fire down on their own tribe, too.
"That's what they do, they just -" He dropped his voice, very low. "- they destroy everything they touch. Not long ago, though, something happened to make the Capitol worried. Far as I can tell a Tribute in one of the arenas did things that might have made people get a little more inclined to rebellion, so they stopped taking kids from the districts and started bringing in people like us. This way the districts're not having their kids taken away, so they're less likely to rebel, but they can show how powerful they are by reaching into whole other worlds to bring people, and by playing gods by bringing them back to life over and over. It still shows off how powerful they are, without making the districts take it personally anymore. They still don't seem well off but now they're not being forced to watch their kids go through it and now the people in the arenas come back - most of the time."
Hiccup shrugged.
"So here we are." He added, "Uuup to our necks in dragon dung."